19 December— The KYC Yum! Center went silent for a bit. Only to erupt in noisy cheers a few minutes later, proving that the NCAA national semifinal between Pittsburgh and Louisville Volleyball was a sure rollercoaster! But all is well that ends well, isn’t it? Well, yes. After a little shake-up, the final verdict is now out!

The big news coming in from Louisville is that the Cardinals have beaten the Panthers 3-1 to secure a place in the NCAA Championships final for the second time ever in program history! On the other hand, Pittsburgh has had to see yet another season-ending at the final four stage, now for the fourth consecutive time.

It’s a certain landmark in the history of Louisville Volleyball to have shown great effort in uprooting the No. 1 seed from the league to the finals, by a narrow but clear margin (21-25, 25-23, 29-27, 25-17). Although the Panthers started strong, with their offense game on, pushing the Cardinals to an early loss, the latter flipped the script thanks to Charitie Luper and Anna DeBeer who aided the second-set comeback.

It was 1-1 as the two teams marched ahead into the third set, which fortunately turned on Louisville’s side too. The Cardinals, led by DeBeer in this set, capped off a 4-0 run and pushed the Panthers into set 4 with a 2-1 deficit. This was when things started to look dicey for Pittsburgh as it was for the first time all season that they had entered a fourth set down by such a wide gap.

But who knew that things would turn uncertain for the Louisville Volleyball squad too? After set three, Anna DeBeer, the famous hometown girl, went down after landing on her teammate’s foot during a block attempt. And it’s safe to say this quickly changed the dynamics of the game. What exactly happened? Here’s the gist of it.

Louisville Volleyball star

Anna DeBeer, suffered an injury in her right leg, probably around her ankle, during the match, given which she was helped off the court into the locker room with the help of her trainers. DeBeer’s injury looked quite nasty and worried the Louisville Volleyball fans, as DeBeer had a team-best 14 kills in the match, hitting .263 up to that point. Also, overall, she had the second most points, marginally behind Olivia Babock, when she left the court. Thus, her importance in the final set was needless to say.

Although she returned to the bench later, the fifth-year Louisville Volleyball super senior did not resume the play. However, as per coach Dani Busboom Kelly, Anna DeBeer should be back with the side by Sunday. Of course, whether she does or not will play a decisive role in whether the Cardinals capture their first-ever championship title or fall short just like they did in 2022. After all, she was selected to the AVCA All-American second team this week and has great experience behind her as a player. But can she bid farewell to her final collegiate match happily? That is set to be decided on Sunday!